Exploration and Settlement

1492-1729

• For the first 50 years after Columbus’ voyage, Europeans explored the New World actively.

• Why? • Faster trade route with China • Earthly Paradise containing cure for

diseases, rivers filled with gold, the Fountain of Youth

•1513 Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean

•1522 Magellan circles the Earth

And in the early 1600’s, John Smith meets a young Indian by the name of…

Pocahontus

The New World

• Near the end of the 16th Century interest in the New World changed from exploration to settlement.

• In 1620, a hundred English men and women settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. What was the name of the boat they traveled on?

• Most came to flee the Old World than find the new

• For decades they battled with authorities to practice their religion…Puritanism.

• A Puritan published a pamphlet promising reforms in the Church

of England.• He was put in jail, fined, whipped, they

cut off the tops of his ears, his forehead was burned with a hot iron and they slit his nose…and there was no soup for him.

How bad were things in the Old World?

• Puritan is a broad term referring to any number of Protestant sects.

• They sought to “purify” the established Church of England.

• The Puritans were also called “Nonconformists”

What is Puritanism?There were 3 major beliefs:1. Puritans wished to have their feelings

radically changed, an experience they called Grace

2. Puritans valued Plainness especially in religion to the simplest form of worship.

3. Belief they were carrying the true identity of Christianity as decreed by god. They saw their lives as a Divine Mission.

• Puritans believed the bible was the literal word of God

• Great emphasis on learning about God, thus a certain Ivy League college is going to be founded in 1636…Harvard

• New ideas begin to come forth to challenge Puritan ways of thinking

• Puritans wrote about their encounters and experiences often in the form of diaries, they also wrote poetry.

• Puritans focused their lives inwardly…reflection on life

• They were trained to see life as a journey or pilgrimage to salvation.

• Puritanism only lasted a century in America

• The growth of cities, new ideas, and the Age of Reason are going to lead to the downfall of Puritanism.

Age of ReasonA Time of Enlightenment

• Began in Europe. Rationalism is the belief that humans can arrive at the truth by using reason rather than the past, faith or intuition.

• Puritans saw an active God…Providential View of the world.

• Sir Isaac Newton compared God to a clock maker therefore you could discover both scientific and spiritual truths by just watching. What is Newton famous for?

• Cotton Mather developed a cure for small pox by inoculation.

Isaac Newton

• The view that God created the universe with immutable laws and operating without Divine Intervention is the central belief of Deism

• All people at all time could discover natural laws through God given power of reason.

• Deism is not a religion, but a philosophy

Deism stood in contrast to the Puritan ideals

• Deism stressed humanities goodness

• Reason in order to be perfect

• Do good for others to perfect society